Rail operator Southern censured after fewer than half its trains arrive on time

Delays: Works at London Bridge were partly blamed for Southern's poor performance (Picture: Nigel Howard)

A rail operator has been criticised after more than half of its London trains arrived late.

Just 46.4 per cent of Southern services bringing passengers from south London, Sussex, Kent and Surrey arrived on time in the first three months of this year, according to the watchdog London Travelwatch.

Signal failures, driver shortages and broken-down trains combined with works at London Bridge station were blamed for the problems. The station, used daily by 140,000, is undergoing a £6.5 billion redevelopment, which has caused chronic overcrowding.

Delays were compounded by over-running engineering works and track problems.

The watchdog’s report states: “A significant proportion of this poor performance can be attributed to, but is not exclusively dependent on, works at London Bridge, with problems compounded by poor timetable planning and not enough tracks on the approach to London Bridge, numerous points and track circuit failures, and engineering works.”

Disruption: Commuters watch for updates to their delayed trains at London Bridge station in March (Picture: Nigel Howard)

“Right time arrivals” are counted as trains arriving at the terminus within one minute of their timetable, or early.

Passengers are entitled to compensation when services are more than 30 minutes late. London Travelwatch wants the minimum on mainline services reduced to 15 minutes to mirror the Tube rebate system.

Janet Cooke, chief executive of London Travelwatch, said: “Passengers are paying a huge amount of money, particularly commuters, to travel on these lines and it’s not acceptable that they continue to suffer delays.

Queue: Commuters outside London Bridge back in April (Picture: Twitter/@breeallegretti)

“It’s essential that these works happen to keep the lines running, but it’s a question of how they are planned and managed.”

A Southern spokesman said: “January saw a reduction in the number of tracks into London Bridge as part of the Thameslink programme.

“The infrastructure proved unable to cope with the amount of trains, leading to sustained delays across the network.”

Network Rail said punctuality on Southern services “steadily improved” last month. A spokesman said: “We still have challenging days, but these are now far less frequent and we are managing disruption more effectively.”